When a special symbol appears during play of the gaming machine game, the secondary game is initiated. At initiation, a bonus prize is determined by the secondary game microcontroller by consulting a bonus game paytable stored therein where each bonus prize corresponds to a bonus spot on the secondary game. A multi-ended pointer of the secondary game spins around the field of bonus spots and the player is prompted to select which end of the pointer is active. Upon selection of the end—e.g. blue or green—a microcontroller operating the spinner calculates the point at which the spinner will cease to spin so that the selected pointed end is pointing toward the selected bonus prize. The player is given the illusion that he or she controls which bonus prize is won since the green side of the pointer will point to a different bonus prize than the blue side.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A gaming device comprising: a spinner characterized by a two-ended pointer, each end of the two-ended pointer pointing in a different direction than the other end, rotating within a field of bonus prizes, and stopping at a designated position within the field; a selector enabling a choice of one of the ends of the two-ended pointer while the spinner is rotating within the field of bonus prizes; and prize awarding means for providing a winning payout responsive to the designated position at which the selected end of the two-ended pointer stops.
2. The gaming device of claim 1 , wherein the ends of the pointer are fixed relative to one another.
3. The gaming device of claim 2 , wherein each end of the two-ended pointer is oriented 180 degrees from one another so that they point in opposite directions from one another.
4. The gaming device of claim 1 , wherein the selector includes two buttons with each button associated with a particular end of the pointer.
5. The gaming device of claim 1 , wherein the spinner is mechanical rotating about an axis under control of processor.
6. The gaming device of claim 1 , further including a bonus feature providing a winning bonus payout associated with both ends of the pointer.
7. A method for implementing a game on an electronic gaming machine comprising the steps of: (a) allowing play to occur on a base game of the gaming machine; (b) initiating a bonus game on the gaming machine responsive to play on the gaming machine base game, said bonus game including two selectors comprising different ends of a two-ended spinner, where each selector is visually associated with a plurality of bonus prizes of the bonus game; (c) enabling player choice of one of the selectors; (d) associating the chosen selector with one of the plurality of bonus prizes; and (e) awarding the determined one of the bonus prizes associated with the chosen selector.
8. The method of claim 7 further including the steps of: determining a bonus prize prior to step (c); and manipulating the chosen selector in step (d) so that the chosen selector is associated with the determined bonus prize.
9. The method of claim 7 further including the steps of: determining player eligibility for the bonus game prior to step (b); and initiating the bonus game only if player eligibility is satisfied.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein player eligibility is satisfied if the player plays a maximum bet on the base game.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein player eligibility is satisfied if the player is playing the base game at a particular rate of play.
12. The method of claim 7 , further including: identifying the player; and initiating the bonus game responsive to the player identification.
13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the selectors move among a single field of visually fixed bonus prizes.
14. A method for implementing a game on a gaming device, the method comprising: allowing play to occur on a base game of the gaming device; initiating a bonus game on the gaming device responsive to a bonus triggering event, the bonus game including two selectors each corresponding to a different end of a two-ended spinner rotating within a field of bonus prizes; allowing a player to chose one of the selectors; associating the spinner end corresponding to the chosen selector with one of the bonus prizes in the field of bonus prizes after the player has chosen one of the selectors; and awarding the bonus prize associated with the spinner end corresponding to the chosen selector.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising: determining which of the bonus prizes in the field of bonus prizes to award to the player prior to allowing the player to chose one of the selectors; and associating the spinner end corresponding to the chosen selector with the determined bonus prize.
16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising adding a supplementary prize determined during a supplementary prize phase after the spinner end has been associated with one of the bonus prizes to the associated bonus prize and awarding the sum of the supplementary prize and the associated bonus prize.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the supplementary prize includes the bonus prize associated with the spinner end that does not correspond to the chosen selector.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
August 3, 2004
October 9, 2007
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